It’s time for your guide to today’s Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don’t think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for my verdict on two of the New York Times’ other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer and hints are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #1211) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in two places*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1211) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle‘s 2,309 answers. In fact, it’s almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
Wordle hints (game #1211) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are no repeated letters in today’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
Wordle hints (game #1211) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is N.
N is a pretty common ending letter in Wordle: it’s the seventh most likely in that position and features in 130 solutions.
Wordle hints (game #1211) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1211.
- Today’s Wordle answer is a soiled or discolored spot.
If you just want to know today’s Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I’d always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We’ve got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don’t want to know today’s answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don’t say you weren’t warned!
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1211)
- NYT average score: 3.4
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: SAINT (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: TRUCE (160)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1211) is… STAIN.
There’ll be twos aplenty today, because TRAIN – the eighth most popular start word on most days – left only one possible answer. Though it sits just outside WordleBot’s top 20 (at #22), it’s usually played by around 1% of all Wordlers, so that’s many thousands of people who will have scored a 2/6. SAINT, which is in the ‘bot’s top 20, was also one that cut the possible answers list to a single option – though that’s not as commonly played. Outside of those words the fact that STARE (8) and SLATE (15) were also successful will have further helped bring down that average.
It’s not a difficult Wordle even if you weren’t so lucky with your start word. All five letters are very common, and the ST combination at the start is the most common of all pairings in that position. So long as you were sensible with your second guess you’ll have had a good chance of a 3/6.
That was my experience, at least. I began with TRUCE, chosen at random and not all that lucky given that it left me 160 options. But my approach is almost always to follow up by playing common letters next, and in this case I went with SAINT. As I said above, that would have left only one answer as a first guess, so obviously it only left one as a second attempt too. I duly played STAIN next for my 3/6.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1210)
In a different time zone where it’s still Friday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1210, too.
- Wordle yesterday had a vowel in one place.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
- The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was G.
G is the eighth most common starting letter, featuring in 115 Wordle answers. It’s often paired with an L to make GL—, but I’m not revealing whether that’s the case today.
- There were no repeated letters in yesterday’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
- The last letter in yesterday’s Wordle was Y.
Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1210.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is windy.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1210)
- NYT average score: 4.7
- My score: 5
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SLATE (8 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: REACH (404)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1210) was… GUSTY.
I was a little surprised to see this as yesterday’s word, given the situation in Florida with hurricane Milton (and the ongoing impact from Helene). Yes, the answers are set in advance, but the editors do have the power to change them and have done so in the past. I’m not personally upset, but I can imagine that some people might be and usually the NYT plays it safe in this regard.
Setting that aside, GUSTY is another difficult word to grapple with. WordleBot says it has an average score of 4.7, which would be one of the highest in weeks were it not for the fact that MOMMY two days ago was a 5.0.
The problem here is our old favorite the too-many-answers trap. -USTY has seven solutions, by both my reckoning and WordleBot’s: DUSTY, LUSTY, MUSTY, GUSTY, BUSTY, RUSTY and FUSTY. It also has GUTSY, the word that caused me to slip from a 4/6 to a 5/6.
Those alternative words played a huge role in keeping the average high today. On the fourth guess, for instance, a massive 41% of Wordlers played one of the wrong -USTY words (against 38% who went for the right one). GUSTY is not the least common of them – FUSTY probably has that honor, while BUSTY is unlikely to be an actual answer – but it’s not the best known either, with DUSTY and RUSTY in more widespread use.
Most starting words fared badly, with the 356 for CRANE and the 404 for my random word REACH far from outliers. But one popular choice did perform admirably, namely SLATE. This left only eight possibles, although given that six of them were the -USTY words minus LUSTY, there was still work to do for anyone lucky enough to play it.
I was in a similar situation following my second guess – SNOUT. This was chosen partly based on those letters all being common, but also with one eye on the end of the answer, given that E and R were ruled out. By including N and T, plus the ST combination that often goes before a Y, I was trying to at least make progress with that end of the board, where it’s easier to turn letters green than it often is at the start.
The plan worked to an extent, giving me three yellows and leaving seven answers. And I quickly realized they were the remaining -USTY words plus GUTSY. So, what to do next? The best I could do was BULGY, which would rule in/out BUSTY (if the B changed color), LUSTY (the L), and either GUTSY or GUSTY if the G did. If none did, it would be DUSTY, MUSTY or FUSTY.
When I got the G, I was sure the answer would be GUTSY, given the potential sensitivities I mentioned at the top. So I was rather surprised when I saw those two middle letters stay yellow, meaning the answer was GUSTY and I had to settle for a five.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than two years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday’s answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
- Wordle #1210, Friday 11 October: GUSTY
- Wordle #1209, Thursday 10 October: CARVE
- Wordle #1208, Wednesday 9 October: MOMMY
- Wordle #1207, Tuesday 8 October: JOINT
- Wordle #1206, Monday 7 October: FLOUR
- Wordle #1205, Sunday 6 October: LAGER
- Wordle #1204, Saturday 5 October: MINER
- Wordle #1203, Friday 4 October: TITLE
- Wordle #1202, Thursday 3 October: WAGON
- Wordle #1201, Wednesday 2 October: SHELL
- Wordle #1200, Tuesday 1 October: MODEM
- Wordle #1199, Monday 30 September: CLOUD
- Wordle #1198, Sunday 29 September: RIDER
- Wordle #1197, Saturday 28 September: BRAIN
- Wordle #1196, Friday 27 September: FAITH
- Wordle #1195, Thursday 26 September: THANK
- Wordle #1194, Wednesday 25 September: TORCH
- Wordle #1193, Tuesday 24 September: HANDY
- Wordle #1192, Monday 23 September: STEAM
- Wordle #1191, Sunday 22 September: TEACH
- Wordle #1190, Saturday 21 September: SEVEN
- Wordle #1189, Friday 20 September: SMOKE
- Wordle #1188, Thursday 19 September: PRESS
- Wordle #1187, Wednesday 18 September: FULLY
- Wordle #1186, Tuesday 17 September: BEAUT
- Wordle #1185, Monday 16 September: HONEY
- Wordle #1184, Sunday 15 September: RECUR
- Wordle #1183, Saturday 14 September: BROAD
- Wordle #1182, Friday 13 September: HARSH
- Wordle #1181, Thursday 12 September: BRASS
- Wordle #1180, Wednesday 11 September: AISLE
- Wordle #1179, Tuesday 10 September: REBEL
- Wordle #1178, Monday 9 September: DEBIT
- Wordle #1177, Sunday 8 September: DRAWN
- Wordle #1176, Saturday 7 September: OWNER
- Wordle #1175, Friday 6 September: RERUN
- Wordle #1174, Thursday 5 September: WIDEN
- Wordle #1173, Wednesday 4 September: STERN
- Wordle #1172, Tuesday 3 September: FAINT
- Wordle #1171, Monday 2 September: CAMEL
- Wordle #1170, Sunday 1 September: MUSHY
- Wordle #1169, Saturday 31 August: SPOUT
- Wordle #1168, Friday 30 August: KNAVE
- Wordle #1167, Thursday 29 August: FLUNK
- Wordle #1166, Wednesday 28 August: LITHE
- Wordle #1165, Tuesday 27 August: CROWN
- Wordle #1164, Monday 26 August: STAKE
- Wordle #1163, Sunday 25 August: SKATE
- Wordle #1162, Saturday 24 August: FILET
- Wordle #1161, Friday 23 August: LEECH
What is Wordle?
If you’re on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you’ve not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it’s the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2024.
We’ve got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.
What is Wordle?
Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it’s in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it’s not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh?
It’s played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times’ Crossword app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free.
Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak.
What are the Wordle rules?
The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray.
4. Answers are never plural.
5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode.
8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle.
9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle’s list of 2,309 solutions. However…
11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won’t be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
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